NAIROBI, 4 SEPTEMBER 2026 –The Java Foundation has called on corporates to invest in the development of soft and leadership skills of young learners, arguing that the knowledge children gain in class needs to be matched by the confidence, values and sense of responsibility they will be judged on in the workplace.
The call comes as the Java Foundation launched its Kuza Mentorship Manual, a Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development (KICD) approved guide for mentors working with learners in Grades 6 to 9.
Speaking at the launch event at Dagoretti North School, one of the schools supported by the Java Foundation, Priscilla Gathungu, Java House Group Chief Executive Officer, noted that the collaboration between potential employers and schools is crucial to developing appropriate skills as the workplace evolves.
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“Schools are doing a great job imparting knowledge, and they are doing it under enormous pressure. We cannot expect them to prepare our children for the future without help. Corporates hold a wealth of knowledge earned over years of trial and error, and there is no reason for it to stay in our boardrooms. What the Kuza Mentorship Manual does is create a framework for passing valuable knowledge down so that anyone mentoring young minds knows what to cover, how to cover it, and what they learner should walk out with,” said Ms Gathungu.
The manual builds on the successes of Java Foundation’s Kuza Mentorship Programme designed to equip learners with practical life skills while widening their access to career, leadership, and talent development opportunities.
The Kuza Mentorship Programme sits alongside Java Foundation’s community investments, including a partnership with Food For Education that provides daily hot, nutritious lunches to more than 3,000 schoolchildren, including those at Dagoretti North School, Ngunyumu School in Korogocho, and Kibos School for the Blind in Kisumu.
